Andrew Tushingham

Hello everybody and welcome to the last blog of 2011.  As you all know, 2011 has been a difficult year for us in one way or another, so it was particularly nice to end the year with another resoundingly successful Winter Show. More on that later, but what I would like to start with is a couple of pleasing reports regarding fish captures at Horseshoe. 

I’ll start with Andrew Tushingham, who, as reported in the last blog has been enjoying a productive season.  His last session proved just as productive, landing three fish of 13lb, 15lb and 17lb.

Although these fish are not the biggest he has caught this year, what does make them more noteworthy to me, is the fact that they are all fish that were stocked last year and have all grown splendidly. 

Above three pics: Andrew Tushingham with his 17lb, 15lb and 13lb stocked last year

The 17lb fish was stocked at 10lb, the 15lb fish was stocked at 9lb and the 13lb fish was stocked at 8lb.  I’ll let you do the maths but any way you look at it, it’s impressive, so we’re well pleased with the results.  Thank you very much for the photos Andrew, and well done on a really good season, it’s been a pleasure having you on the lake.  I know the birdlife have enjoyed your presence too, I even saw the Kingfisher struggling to take off the other day!!!.

Where's my Dinner?

Once again thank you for the photos Richard and very well done.

Braving the long cold dark November nights has paid off for Richard Danson, who, along with his girlfriend, endured a few frosty nights recently and was rewarded with these two fine looking carp of 21lb and 17lb respectively. 

Well done Russell!

There have been a few more fish out this month but as always, reports are slow.  I do know Gary, the Welsh Policeman, landed one of the new fish at an impressive 18lb+ but I haven’t seen a picture so can’t really tell you its entry weight, I can tell you that the biggest fish we put in the lake was only 12lb so even if it were to be that one, that’s still an impressive weight gain. So once again, as with Andrew’s recent catches, we are delighted.

The Pike lads have got off to a good start. No pictures to show you but I do know most of them are already into double figures, and once Chris has found his hook sharpener I’m sure he will catch them up, that’s if the Barbel haven’t turned his head.

It would be interesting to know just how many Pike are in Horseshoe, I’m sure it won’t be far off the same stock as the Carp.  I really would urge anyone with an interest in Pike to come and have a session or two on Horseshoe, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Just a couple of reports from Farriers now.  Russell Jones sent me these pictures of a couple of winter crackers he’s had the pleasure of landing, 43lb and 36lb being the weights.

Thanks Russell, cracking fish, and again so typical of the stamp of fish in Farriers.  Paul Boichat has also been kind enough to send me this picture of a lovely 32lb Common he had out of Farriers recently, thanks Paul.

No report from Langholme but Steve tells me it’s still producing.

Left: Nice one Paul

On to the Show now, and as I mentioned earlier, it was a resounding success. Early feedback is all positive, exhibitors and customer comments have all been good.  I have seen a comment on the internet that the forums were boring (ironically these comments were on the world’s most boring internet forum). To be honest though if we had Beyoncé and Rihanna wrestling naked in a cage, some people would still post negative comments.

Calm before the storm

The show takes months and months of planning and a fair old chunk of money to put together, so it's always a concern how it goes on the day.  It only works because everyone pulls together, so it’s a big ‘well done’ to everyone, that includes the organisers, the exhibitors, the guest speakers and most importantly of all, you the paying public. Attendances were on a par with last year and last year was our biggest attendance ever, so to get anywhere near that was more than we could have hoped for.

Deep in thought

Peter Springate, legend

Food for thought

For those of you unable to attend, I’ll just give you a brief rundown of what you missed.  The physical infrastructure begins on Thursday, with the erection of the stands, then on the Friday morning the exhibitors start coming in and arranging their displays. This goes on till about 9.30pm or Heathrow Baits arrival time as we like to call it.  Then it’s off for a bite to eat and a kip for me and before you know it, we’re back in the hall by 7.30am on the Saturday for final preparations, making sure everything meets the dreaded Health and Safety regulations and making sure all the exhibitors have their wristbands on, believe it or not, that’s the most troublesome part of the whole weekend. You’d think the name wristband would be a clue, but somewhere along the line, wristbands must translate as ‘pocket bands’, or ‘my mate's got my band’, or ‘it’s in my van band’ or any other number of reasons for not having them on their wrist.  I’m sure it must all seem a bit petty to the people that can’t be bothered wearing them and then give us an hard time for insisting they wear them before we let them in, but trust me, they would soon see the significance of it if we let any old Tom Dick and Harry in without one and watched them run off with their stock.  I’m sure they’d want to know then why we let people in without checking them.  But, such is life that beyond the end of a nose is a distance too far for some folk.  Anyway that’s that off my chest, hopefully it’s sunk it, but I won’t hold my breath.

Now I remember where I put that bankstick...

When everything is finally sorted, it’s doors open at 9.00am and on with the show. The first influx of advance ticket holders pile in and it’s not long before they’re heading back out with their first load of bargains. I think most people headed straight for the Carpology stand to sign up for a 12 month subscription, the incentive being something like £300 worth of free tackle, not a bad start.  Carpology were by no means the only ones giving bargains though, from what I could see, Eric’s, Johnson Ross and Climax were doing a roaring trade and many a happy punter left their stands with smiles upon their faces.  All the bait companies seemed to be doing well, with plenty of customers to deal with. 

Above, Fox and below Nash

The Nash village was a huge success, plenty of bivvys on display, plenty of consultants on hand to give advice and demonstrations on all their products.  They had the new two-man bedchair on display, and a fine looking piece of kit it is too, though I’m not sure why two men would want to share a bedchair, it’s got to be a regional thing, I can’t see it selling quite as well up north.  The Avid stand was well attended, they really do have some great little bits of kit. What I personally like about Avid is a lot of their products seem to have been made with the clumsier angler in mind, and being a clumsy angler myself I love the chod beads and the rig tubing. That’s a doddle to thread, even their boilie stops are quality, everything they do seems very innovative, they’re not just a variation on a theme.

Having said that, my favourite bit of kit I saw at the show was the Avid bedchair, the comfiest bedchair I’ve ever seen, by far.

I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here so let’s get back on track. The upstairs talks are always good value and this year was no exception, the Nash boys, the Korda Crew, Terry Hearn and Jerry Hammond all attracted big crowds.  The book stands as always were busy. Authors were on hand to sign their work, (I have actually been approached by John at Medlar Press to write a book on dealing with Lobsters, but that’s another story for another time).

Leather bound editions were flying out, in fact the whole day was a tremendous success for everyone, and the whole event had a definite positive buzz about it.

Sunday followed the same format and was equally well attended and every bit as successful as the Saturday. 

The show still attracts the Carp pioneers of old, it was really pleasing to see the likes of Pete Springate, Richie McDonald and Derek Ritchie, and my own favourite angler (after Malcolm Tuckwell of course), Mick Brown.

The meritorious Mick Brown

  Most people will know Mick as a Pike Angler, but he was blazing the Carp trail with Chris Yates way back when potatoes were the bait and boilies were just something you had on your backside.  While I’m sure the modern day Carp celebrities are worth their merit, the guys I’ve just mentioned were doing it with kit that most newcomers to the sport would laugh at.  How many of you would sleep on a bit of Tarpaulin with a blanket? No Bivvy’s, No bite alarms, no dvd, in fact a lot of them didn’t even have a car. Without these guys I don’t for one minute think any of us would be where we are today.

I was on the Carp Society stand all weekend and met all sorts of weird and wonderful people, not least of all, our friend from Holland (see picture).  I spoke to quite a few people regarding recent happenings at Horseshoe and hopefully put a few people’s minds at rest.  On a personal note, I was very grateful, if not a little humbled by all the nice comments I received about the Blog.  It’s really nice to know so many people enjoy reading it, thank you all very much.  People who took the time to come and see us were obviously concerned about Horseshoe, but I can say in all honesty not one of them had a bad word to say. 

That just about covers things for this Blog. All that’s left is for me, on behalf of everyone at The Carp Society, to thank you once again for all your continued support. We look forward to seeing each and every one of you soon.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Till next time
Miles

Left: Waiting for Godot